


Shklance Week

by sasuhina_gal



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Acapella AU, Fairy Keith, Homesick Lance (Voltron), Keith and Shiro date before Kerberos, M/M, Merman Lance, Merman Shiro, Sick Lance, Sick Shiro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-03 14:07:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8716804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasuhina_gal/pseuds/sasuhina_gal
Summary: My submissions for this year Shklance/Klanro weekDay 1-Seperation/ReunionDay 2-Movie night/Game night (Modern Sickfic AU)Day 3-Winter decorating/Snow day (Warblers AU)Day 4-Supernatural/Fantasy (Fariy/Merman AU)Day 5-Dream/NightmareDay 6-Sunlight/StarlightDay 7-Domestic/Day outDay 8-Bonus Day (Crossover)





	1. Can't lose you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith thought there would be no one he loved more than Shiro. And then Lance came along

When Keith lost Shiro, it hurt. Just the weeks before he had been sneaking out of Garrison to see Shiro before he left for the Kerberos mission and then all of a sudden, he was considered dead. He refused to believe it. He didn’t want to, not after Shiro had promised him he’d be fine while they had been under the comforter of Shiro’s bed. So when the school refused to look more into what had happened, Keith got himself expelled and left to that shack. He felt the energy bring him there and even though he didn’t know it then, he had a feeling that the energy would bring him closer to Shiro.

And it did. When he saw the ship from his shack, he immediately knew who was on that ship. It was a blur of planting the bombs for distraction and running in when the coast was clear, fighting the technicians that tried to stop him. Everything finally stopped when his suspicions were confirmed. Shiro, Shiro was back. Changed, but he was back. Keith wanted nothing more than to take him and lock him away from the world to try and protect him. He was sure that there would be nothing he’d miss more than Shiro. Until Lance, that was.

When he told Lance he didn’t remember him, that was a lie. Guards were always doing walk throughs of the hallways, so sneaking out to go and see Shiro was always a challenge. His safest bet was usually passed the library. He remembered the first time he was passing, he stopped when he saw light shining out. He peeked in and saw Lance surrounded by books, his eyes focused on whatever book was in front of him. He had been confused at first. He had seen Lance around. He was cocky and loud and Keith was sure he’d flunk out early because he didn’t look like the type to study. He pushed it away and then took off, heading to where his boyfriend’s room was. He was surprised to see, after talking Shiro into letting him see the student’s grades that Lance was not flunking out anytime soon. His grades where high, marksmanship being the best. There were a few comments from teachers talking about how he could be disruptive at times but most of his teachers had high hopes that he’d be placed into the fighter pilot class.

Until that stupid placement test. Keith was late for it, because he was with Shiro. He was sure he’d get stuck as a cargo piolet or something but he was surprised when he saw his name as the last fighter piolet before they listed the cargo piolets. Lance’s name was the first on that list. It took some digging but some of the teachers had better hopes for him and bumped Lance down to make room for him. Maybe that was another reason he hated Garrison. They refused to look for Shiro and they treated Lance like he wasn’t good enough. When Lance told him that he became a fight piolet after he left, he was sure that was the only reason. The school didn’t have any trust in Lance’s capabilities.

But they were wrong. Lance was the first to control one of the Lions and he was quick to think on his feet. He was so self-sacrificing and not willing to go down without a fight. Maybe that’s why he started to have feelings for him. When that happened, he panicked. He was with Shiro, why was he having feelings for another person? He avoided Lance like a plague and their usual bickering got much worse. Shiro came after him when one of their fights had gotten out of hand. In his irrational fear, he reminded Lance that he wouldn’t have been a fighter piolet without him. Lance was stunned and then angry and stomped out of the room. He didn’t show up for dinner.

“Keith, I know you and Lance don’t get along, but what you said earlier was really harsh, even for you. What’s going on?”

Keith didn’t want to say. He didn’t want to tell his boyfriend, the person who never treated him like he was different when he felt like he was, that he liked another person. What if Shiro left him? He wouldn’t be able focus. He could hide it but it’d hurt and then they wouldn’t be able to form Voltron. So he kept quiet. Shiro frowned when he didn’t get an answer. He sighed and said, “Fine, if you don’t want to give me an answer, fine. Just know I’m disappointed in you. I thought you would have acted a bit nicer. I don’t know where this anger is coming from, but I really hope you resolve it soon.”

Shiro was going to leave him alone but Keith stopped him. It was those words, I’m disappointed in you. He never disappointed Shiro. Made him mad, yes. Worried, more times than he cared to count. Proud, getting that proud smile from him was one of his favourite things, but disappointed? No, never. Not after all Shiro risked giving him a chance. He knew his behaviour towards Lance was uncalled for. He didn’t deserve it.

“I,” he started, not able to look at Shiro, “I like Lance.” There, he said it. He kept his gaze down, not wanting to look at the disgusted face of Shiro.

Shiro kept silent but then took Keith by the shoulders. He used one hand to lift Keith’s gaze to him. He didn’t look disgusted, he look understanding. “Was that all?”

“What?”

“Is that why you’ve been acting so rude to Lance and avoiding him? Because you have a crush?”

Keith felt confused. What was Shiro trying to get from him? He nodded anyway and felt almost hurt when Shiro started laughing. “What the hell is so funny?”

“You have a crush on Lance, and you don’t know how to act around him. That’s why you’ve been avoiding him. Keith, I’ve never seen you act this way, it’s so cute.”

Cute? It was cute to have a crush on someone else when you had a boyfriend? “Is this your twisted way of breaking up with me?”

“What? Keith, no. I’m not breaking up with you. Why would you think that?”

“I just told you I like someone and I’m with you.”

Shiro had an understanding look on his face, “well, do you still have feelings for me?”

“Yes, of course.”

“And now, you also have feelings for Lance right?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Shiro gave Keith’s shoulder a soft squeeze, “Keith, its ok. Kinda since I like him too.”

That stopped him. “What? You what?”

“I didn’t plan for it to happen. I felt really bad when I realised it but hearing you feel the same, I don’t feel bad anymore.”

“Wait, since when?”

“Well, it was when we were heading towards Balmera. I had been feeling pretty low that I couldn’t do anything because he got hurt. I felt like the situation had been my fault because I wasn’t paying attention but Lance had found me and started apologizing. He said if he had been fast, maybe the bomb wouldn’t of exploded and he could of helped and all that. I don’t know, it was just his attitude and the way he was. He was willing to take the blame of something he didn’t have control over. I just didn’t like seeing him upset. I didn’t say anything to him, but when I realised how I felt, I felt guilty because I was with you.”

Everything felt like it was lifted. Shiro felt the same. Poly relationships were a thing and he always saw them as something that could only happen if everyone in the relationship liked each other.

“So, how do we find out whether he likes us?” Keith asked

“Well, first, you’re going to apologize. As cute as it is to watch you flounder around Lance, that doesn’t give you the right to of been so mean. You know how unfair his situation was.”

He knew. He’d never forget. When he did ask Lance to forgive him, he told him how unfair it was Lance didn’t get the chance to be the amazing piolet he could be. He almost didn’t think Lance would believe him when Lance pulled him into a tight hug.

“After getting compared to you for so long, hearing you say that you thought I would have been just as good, I needed to hear that.”

Having Lance join their relationship was awkward at first. Lance didn’t know how he fit and he felt scared to ask. But it got better after, Lance started to speak his mind and fit himself in their relationship. Public displays of affection always seemed odd to Keith, but Lance loved it. He liked using his height advantage to plant kisses on his forehead and kisses on Shiro’s scar. Lance was much more empathetic than he realised. He knew when to give them space and when to stay close. Shiro’s night terrors were calmed down easier with two people paying attention. Keith didn’t think he’d ever feel the same way about Shiro for anyone, but Lance fit perfectly.

So when Hagger corrupted the wormhole, it was all he could do not to panic when he saw Lance disappear. Shiro still had a hold of Red, so they landed together, but Lance. The comms weren’t working and Red was down. Black was clashing with two recognised Paladins, so she was out until Shiro could connect with her fully again. They couldn’t contact the Castle or Lance. God Lance, not having him around, talking in his ear, it felt strange.

His anxiety of not having him around exploded when Shiro pulled him into a hug, for seemingly no reason. Maybe he knew, maybe he could tell.

“I can’t lose him. Not like I lost you. I can’t.”

“You won’t. I promise, we’ll find him. I won’t give up till we get him back, ok?” Shiro held him tighter, his promise reverberating in his head. He was going to keep his promise. They’ll find everyone and Lance, and they weren’t going to let him go.


	2. Movies make colds better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro is at home, miserable with a cold. And what's worse, he had to cancel movie night with his boyfriends. Or maybe not?

Shiro blew his nose into another tissue before letting out a pitiful cough. He was completely and utterly miserable. His best friend Matt had been horribly sick and being the nice guy he was, when he wasn’t busy with school, work or being with his boyfriends, he was with Matt, helping him get better.

It started with a sore throat, but he did everything possible to stop it. It felt like nothing was going to happen but he started sneezing and feeling tired and before he knew it, he was the pile of sick pitifulness on the couch. What was worse, he had to cancel movie night with his boyfriends.

Lance and Keith both lived on campus and took every chance they could to see their graduate school boyfriend. He lived in his own apartment, but he was sure that they be moving in at any time, if the amount of things belonging to them scattered around the apartment was anything to go by. Movie night was their chill night and date night all together. They choose a theme and went with it for the whole night, the two usually staying over. But he did not want them to catch the cold so he cancelled, telling them he’d keep in touch so they knew he didn’t die. Granted, he wanted Lance’s cuddles and Keith’s head messages but no. Until he felt like he could breathe properly, they weren’t coming over.

He tried falling asleep when he heard his door being unlocked. He felt himself stiffen, was there a burglar in his house? Or was his cold really messing with his head? He pushed himself up when he heard shoes being put on his shoe rack and the soft padding of feet. Ok, so not burglars, unless this was a new technique to steal. He was so in his head, he jolted when he felt a hand on his forehead.

“Keith?” he looked up at the black haired student, who looked slightly concerned. “What are you doing here? Where’s Lance?”

“In the kitchen.” Keith brushed the white bangs away from Shiro’s forehead, the older male leaning into the touches. “We didn’t think you should be here by yourself, so we went shopping and came over.”

“You didn’t have to do that.” He wasn’t complaining though. He missed his boyfriends.

“We wanted to. When was the last time you had medicine?”

Shiro tried to think, but couldn’t come up with an answer. Did he even still have left? “Um?”

Keith sighed, “Gez, Lance was right. You don’t act like it, but you’re more forgetful than I am when sick.”

“I’m not as bad as you. You tried to fool us into thinking you weren’t sick for 2 whole days.”

Keith looked away from Shiro, his face slightly red in embarrassment. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“Babe, I had to look after you for a week.” Lance had finally come in, a steaming mug in hand. He handed it to Shiro. “It’s ginger tea. Sounds weird, but trust me, it’ll help you.”

Shiro pushed himself up more and accepted the mug, the warmth feeling good on his hands. “You guys really didn’t have to come. You could get sick.”

“I’m from a family of 7 kids. My immune system is pretty strong. And Keith’s personality could scare away any cold.”

“Screw you.”

He looked at his boyfriends affectionately. It had actually been himself who joined their relationship. He couldn’t believe it at first. Whenever he saw the two, they were arguing. Apparently, it was their thing. He was quick to see the difference between their actual fights and their conversations turned weird arguments. He was surprised when he first saw the two them act like actual couple. He had been studying in the library and spotted the two in the corner, curled up together on the couch. Lance was practically on top of Keith, his face resting on the Korean man’s chest. Keith held a book above him, the other hand running through Lance’s brown hair. He saw Lance say something to the other and watched Keith reply, his eyes filled with adoration. He was sure he had walked into a twilight zone, but no. The two could argue, but he could see they really loved each other. When they told him they wanted him to join their relationship, if he wanted, he was unsure. How could he fit? It took a lot of talking and figuring things out, but six months later, he was in a happy relationship with these two.

“Come on, drink up and then you can eat something. You haven’t thrown up have you?” Lance asked

“No.” he took a sip of the tea, trying not to cringe at the taste. He hated ginger.

“I guess a sandwich will be fine. I’ll do that and Keith will put the movies in.”

“Movies? I thought I cancelled?”

“We’re already here, why waste an opportunity? Besides its Studio Ghibli night.” Lance pointed out as he went back to the kitchen.

“Are you warm enough?” Keith asked, picking up discarded tissues and throwing them into the convenient trashcan.

“I’m good, I guess.”

“Pull another blanket to be sure!” Lance called from the kitchen.

Shiro wanted to call Keith back, but he knew how stubborn he could be. If he and Lance had the idea in their heads, they weren’t going to give up so easily. He put the mug on the coffee table when Keith came back with another blanket. Shiro let him pull it snuggly to him, tucking him in. He watched Keith’s concentrated face and smiled softly when Keith looked up at him. He quickly turned red and looked, away, causing Shiro to laughing, which in turn caused him to cough.

“Stop trying to kill our boyfriend.” Lance called

“I didn’t do anything.” Giving Shiro an exasperated look. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“But you look like a concerned housewife. It suits you.”

Keith’s face turned redder as he turned away from Shiro and pulled out DVDs from a bag Shiro hadn’t noticed before.

“Which one do you want to watch first? We have Spirited Away, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo, Secret World of Ariety and the Cat Returns plus its prequel.”

All his favourites. They were really trying to make him feel better. “No Totoro?”

“Sorry, my sister borrowed it from me and I haven’t gotten it back yet.” Lance came in and handed Shiro a plate. On it was a grilled cheese sandwich. “I’m lucky you had a pan on the stove already. Eat up.”

Keith pulled Ponyo out of its case and put into Shiro’s DVD player. Lance curled up at Shiro’s feet and when the movie was set to play, Keith crawled behind Shiro, running his hands through his hair. Shiro started to relax at the feeling as he took a bite of the gooey sandwich. He felt Lance tangle his legs with his and felt even calmer and a lot less sick. Who knew that movie night with his boyfriends could practically cure his cold?


	3. Sing with you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance stays back in the Paladin club room to decorate the tree, while thinking about that practise incident with Shiro and Keith earlier. Now that said people came to help him, can he keep his feelings hidden?

Lance stood in front of a Christmas tree in the Paladin room.

“Stupid rule about newbies having to decorate the whole room. Whose idea was that anyway and why does the tree have to be so damn tall?”

Lance was a student at Voltron Academy, a private school well known for its sciences and arts. It was the type of school that had a sister school, Altea Academy, they were that posh. Lance entered the school when the bullying at his school got much more violent. Being bisexual wasn’t really accepted by the popular students and the only person who seemed to care was Mr. Coran, his old glee club coach. His parents, sick of seeing him coming home with bruises, used their vacation money to pay for the first year at Voltron.

There he joined the school’s acapella group, the Paladins. He felt safe at the school. It acted as a boarding school as well and he never got any grief about his sexually orientation from his roommate Hunk. Then again, Hunk was the sweetest person alive so… anyway, while he felt guilty that his family couldn’t go on their vacation because his parents wanted him safe, he felt like he couldn’t trade his time here for anything. The friends that he made here felt much more real than the friends he had at his old school. Not that crushes were any better here.

Takashi Shirogane and Keith Gyeong, two of the lead singers in the Paladins and Lance’s current crushes. Problem, they were going out with each other. Good side to it, apparently the two had been in polygamist relationships before. Lance wanted to be with them both, but his insecurities didn’t help. The two always got either solos or lead duets in any performances and they were amazing together as a couple. What could he bring to the relationship? He was sure Keith wouldn’t want him in it; the two got along enough, but could argue for ages. Honestly, it felt like the only way to get his attention. And Shiro, he was so kind and nice to him, making sure he was ok, but he was like that to everyone. What made Lance so special?

He shook his head, trying to focus on the task at hand. The choir director, Alfor, informed Lance that once the Christmas season started, the room was decorated by the group’s newest members. The only thing was, he was the only new member that year. While other members offered to help with the rest of the room, Lance alone was in charge of the 8 foot tree that stood in the middle of the back of the room. He climbed up on step ladder and leaned over to hook a few ornaments on the higher branches. He had been there for at least two hours already.

“Lance?” the sudden voice startled Lance. He yanked himself away from the tree and felt himself fall backwards when someone grabbed his waist and lifted him down off the ladder. “Lance, are you ok?”

He looked over his shoulder to see Keith very close to him. It took everything in his body not to blush. Keith’s hands were still on his waist and despite the fingerless gloves he wore, he could feel the heat from them. He yanked himself from the hands and spun around to face him fully.

“W-what the hell? What are you doing here?”

“We were looking for you. Are you sure you’re ok?” he looked over Keith’s shoulder to see the boy’s boyfriend. Shiro look concerned and Lance had to look away.

“I’m fine. You just startled me. What are you guys doing here anyway?”

“We wanted to ask you something. How long have you been here anyway?” Shiro asked

Lance huffed, “I’ve been working on this stupid tree for the past two hours.”

“Didn’t know you moved that slow.” Keith teased, earning him a glare from Lance.

“It would have been less if whoever took the lights off last year had actually wrapped the correctly instead of leaving it in a huge tangle. Do you have any idea how long it took to untangle that?”

“Sorry. I guess it was a bit unfair to leave you to do this all by yourself.” Shiro said

“We came to help as pay back for helping us practise earlier.” Keith explained

Lance tried not to blush. After practise earlier, the two had approached him asking if he could be a fill in for them. Alfor had asked if one of them could perform with a member of the Altean Princess – the acapella group at Altea Academy – ‘Baby it’s cold outside’ for an event the schools had for donors, the school board and other such important people. The thing was he hadn’t specified which one he wanted, so they asked Lance if he could sing the female part while they switched with the male.

He agreed and played the part of woman perfectly, but they performed their parts just as well. The hand holding, the closeness and he was sure Keith was going to kiss him at one point. It didn’t happen obviously as it was a line in the song, but Lance felt off for the rest of the song. He had been _this_ close to kissing one of his crushes while said crush’s boyfriend had been right there. Neither had mentioned it after but as if to throw him even more, Keith – yeah the guy who didn’t give out compliments willingly – told him he was no doubt better than whoever they were going to have to sing with. He expected that from Shiro, not Keith.

The rest of the afternoon and into that evening, he tried not to analyse the incident and had finally forgotten about it until just then.

“O-oh. Uh, you guys didn’t have to. I’m almost done anyway, you guys can just leave me be.”

“It’ll go a lot quicker with us. We don’t mind.” Shiro said

“Besides, you’ve been here ages already and don’t you have to start packing to head back home?” Keith asked.

Lance shrugged, despite them being right. His parents were taking him out of school two days early for break because of the amount of time he had spent on campus. He was planning on spending the break to try and forget the crush he had on the two. The last thing he wanted was to blurt something out and ruin their small relationship forever.

“Come on, it’ll be quicker.” Keith said, breaking through Lance’s thoughts. Lance shrugged again.

“I mean, I guess.”

“Perfect. I’ll help you with the top half, and Keith can do the bottom.” Shiro instructed. All Lance did was hand Shiro the box of ornaments he had been using and climbed back on the ladder. He felt the older student get closer and spotted Keith pulling ornaments from other boxes. They worked in quiet when Shiro spoke.

“Seems pretty lucky your parents are taking out of school early. You’d be missing the school wide carolling we do every year.”

“Not like I’ll miss much. My family likes to go carolling with a few of the neighbours every year. We skip sometimes if we don’t feel like it though.” Lance replied, taking another ornament from Shiro and leaned over to hang it on a branch. He felt Shiro hold onto the top rung, his hand brushing against Lance’s leg.

_‘Do not react, do not react. The dude’s boyfriend is practically right in front of you.’_

“That seems like fun. Your parents must miss you a lot.”

“Yeah. Plus according to my sister, Blue’s being mischievous and she only listens to me, so…”

“Blue?” Keith asked, leaning against the ladder, making Lance stiffen. All this close contact was going to drive him insane.

“Yeah, my cat. She’s a Savannah cat and is really crazy sometimes. Total sweetie but can be so mischievous when she wants to be.”

“So, kinda like you?” Keith teased.

“Fuck off mullet.”

“It’s not a mullet.”

“Tell that to the 80s. Billy Ray Cyrus called, he wants his hair back.”

Before Keith could do anything, like throw Lance off the ladder, Shiro stepped in. “ok, let’s end that quickly. How’s the tree looking?”

Lance had to admit, while it took him ages before, the lights taking the longest, with help the tree filled up pretty quick. He wasn’t sure how Alfor would want it, but he thought simply decorated would be fine. “Looks pretty good.”

“Just needs the star.” Keith said, walking back to the boxes and looked through them.

“The ladder won’t reach high enough.” Lance mentioned. It was only a medium sized step ladder, his height made up for the absent amount of height.

“I have an idea. Come here.”

Lance let Shiro help him down and watched as Keith took the box out of his hand. Shiro switched their places and before he knew it, Shiro grabbed him by his knees and lifted him up.

“Ah! What the hell? Shiro, put me down!” Lance gripped Shiro’s shoulder and would have gone for the back of his head also, but the last thing he wanted was to push Shiro’s face closer to him. He looked over at Keith, who didn’t even look phased. Lance was being lifted by his boyfriend, why wasn’t he being fazed? He handed Lance the star and guided Shiro as close to the tree as possible. Lance planted the star on the top of the tree as quickly as possible before rushing out, “ok it’s on. Put me down!”

Shiro dropped him, his hands still around Lance to keep him steady. Lance hid his face which was completely red. What the hell just happened? Honestly, this whole time they were getting close to him and doing these things that made him feel confused. Did they know? Was he totally obvious and they were just messing with him before the rejected him?

“Lance? You ok?” Shiro asked

“Why are you doing this?”

“Huh?”

“Why are you doing this? Honestly, I thought I would be able to forget during break but you two are acting so…is it that obvious? I’m sorry but you two acting like this, I never thought you’d stoop that low.” He pulled himself away from Shiro’s arm, not looking at the two.

“What are you talking about?” Keith asked

“If you’re gonna reject me, fine. But I didn’t expect for you two to play with my emotions like this. Have you been planning this since this morning?”

One of them grabbed Lance’s shoulders, making Lance look up. Keith’s looked angry and annoyed as he glared at Lance.

“You are such an idiot. Stupid, we were flirting with you.”

Wait, what? Flirting? What?

“What do you mean flirting?”

Keith looked over his shoulder at Shiro who looked a bit guilty. “I blame you and your stupid ‘go slow’ plan. My plan was much better.”

“Plan?” Lance felt even more confused.

“Ugg.” Keith rubbed his face in agitation. “We’ve been trying to get you to confess for a while. We knew you liked us and we’ve wanted to ask you if you would go out with us because we feel the same. That one over there thought it’d be a good idea to let you come to us, but you are the most stubborn person I’ve ever met. You were planning on keeping your mouth shut for god knows how long and now look where we are.”

They liked him? And they wanted to date him? Was he dreaming?

“I’m sorry that we made you feel different, but we are serious Lance. We talked and we both want you.” Shiro explained, getting closer to Lance. “We get it if you’re not interested anymore.”

He was. He could tell they were being truthful and he really wanted to accept but…”why me? I’m not that special or anything. There’s bound to be someone better for you guys.”

“Lance, that is not true. You had hell at your old school but didn’t let that change you. You loud and caring and every time we watch you sing, the passion you have is amazing. We won’t stop until you can believe that yourself.” Keith told him. Lance felt his face get red and covered his face with his hands. “Now what?”

“Dude, you don’t say things like that.” He pulled his hands away from his face. “And, I do want to be with you two. Though your approach could use some work.”

“It’s better than Keith’s idea. He wanted to corner you until you confessed.” Shiro confessed, ignoring the look Keith gave him

Honestly, being forced to spit it out seemed much worse than trying to pry it out.

“There was something else we wanted to ask you. Keith and I usually go out after the carolling, we wanted to know if you would come with us? It could be our first date if you want.” Shiro asked

A date, with his two crushes. Maybe he was dreaming, but he didn’t care. It didn’t matter if it was fate or the Christmas spirit in the air. This Christmas was looking better already.


	4. Fly with me, swim with me, just be with me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith had met mermen Lance and Shiro when he was on his way to try and stop the evil fairy Zarkon. The two had their utmost trust that he could succeed. Now that he did and Shiro is in trouble, he needs to work together with Lance to help him. But what's that feeling he gets around them?

Keith jumped off Hunk’s back as the landed on a small sandbank with a rock formation overhead. He peeked out and didn’t see any firebirds.

“I guess we’re safe for now.” Red said, as she floated over his shoulder.

Keith sighed and thought how he even got into this mess. He was a wingless fairy, only one of his kind to his knowledge. It got him a lot of unwanted attention and teasing but he put up with it. He had Pidge, Red and Alfor, his flower home. They never treated him differently so he never cared that he couldn’t fly. Then those who could started to lose the ability to. Alfor wouldn’t respond to him and Pidge was losing her ability very quickly. They suggested that Keith go talk to Allura, the Guardian fairy. He didn’t see the harm in going to inform her and Allura was very concerned. She let him stay at her home but had disappeared the next day suddenly. All he knew was that the entire stream of events was cause by Zarkon, a dark fairy. Hunk, the butterfly he was with, had been asked by Allura to look after Keith if anything happened. They were on their way to Zarkon’s castle when the firebirds, creatures of the villain he was after, came and attacked them.

“Hey, flyboy!” Keith looked over to see two mermen over by the shoreline. One was tanned with brown hair and blue scales scattered around the parts of his body Keith could see. He also noticed that the brown haired merman’s blue eyes rivalled the blue of the water he was in. the other merman had black cropped hair, but his fringe was white and hanging in his face. He only really had scales scattered on his right arm, but that didn’t make him any less appealing to look at. In fact, they were both pretty good looking. The blue one started yelling again, “do you have any idea how low you were flying? Some of us we’re trying to relax. What gives?”

Keith stepped out and it looked like the anger the merman held disappeared. “Oh, uh.”

“Sorry about that. We’re trying to evade those firebirds. We didn’t know anyone was here.” Keith said

“Not like we’ll be here long. Firebirds don’t like water, so they won’t come down here.” Hunk said, sound sure of himself.

“Not to be the bearer of bad news, but those firebirds are still here.” The other merman stated as he looked over his shoulder.

“Hunk!” Red scowled at the butterfly

“Hey, they don’t like water. I didn’t know they’d be so insistent on getting Keith.”

“Whoever took Allura probably saw him; of course they’re after him.”

“Guys,” Keith yelled at the shape shifting pixie and the butterfly. Honestly the picture was quite something to see. “We need to get out of here.”

Something was thrown at his feet and he looked down to see a small bundle of seaweed. He looked back at the mermen. “What is this?”

“It’s a special seaweed that helps you to breath underwater. All of you, eat it, quickly!” the black haired merman said.

He was apprehensive, but honestly, they didn’t have much of a choice. If they firebirds caught him, there was a chance of them killing him on the spot. He ripped a chunk out and threw the rest towards Hunk.

“Wait, we’re actually trusting them?” Red asked

“We don’t have much of a choice. Eat now.”

Once the seaweed was swallowed, he stepped into the water. The blue eyed merman took his hand and pulled him underwater, Red going after him. He let the merman pull him deeper into the water as he swam away from the cove.

“So, do I get to know the name of the guy I just saved?” seeing the merman fully under the water, Keith had to strengthen his claim that the mermen were good looking. His tail was covered in blue and white scales and his bare chest was toned.

“It’s Keith.”

“Keef? Strange name. I’m Lance and that’s Shiro, our crown prince.” The merman, Lance, pointed out to the other merman who was catching up with them. He saw that Hunk wasn’t far behind.

“It’s Keith, not Keef.” He corrected

“Sure.” Keith realised that Lance was teasing him. He didn’t even know him well but he could tell that this was the way Lance was.

“I have to ask,” Shiro said as he swam next to them, “you have the face markings and ears of a fairy, but no wings?”

“I never had them, ever since I was born. I don’t care really but there’s something happening that is causing all those with wings to lose the ability to fly. It’s even affecting the flowers.”

“That sounds scary. But what, you’re going to find out on your own what’s going on?”

“I think I have an idea. There’s a dark fairy called Zarkon. One of the Fairy Guardians thinks he might behind it. I’m going to his castle to try and stop him.”

The two mermen looked at each other before looking back at Keith. “I’m guessing that because you have no wings, people don’t take you seriously. I have a feeling they’re about to be proved wrong. You’ll stop him, I can tell.” Shiro said, giving him a trusting smile.

It was strange. These two didn’t have anything to do with what he was going through, but hearing that they thought he could do it, he felt even more motivated. He was going to stop Zarkon and come back to show them they were right.

* * *

 

“Red, come on. Pick up the pace!” Keith yelled at the shape shifting pixie, who was in her lion form. Her name fit, while her wings were still white, her fur was as red as the dress she wore. “That sea fairy said Shiro was in trouble and Lance needs our help.”

It seemed not that long ago that he, Red and Hunk hid down at the cove where Lance and Shiro had been relaxing. The two mermen had gotten him away from Zarkon’s firebirds and guided him safely to an area that they could fly away from. The two believed in him, a wingless fairy, that he could stop Zarkon. And he did. He stopped Zarkon and saved the kidnapped Guardians as well as the fairy queen. When he returned to his now healed home, he thought things would go back to normal. But Allura gave him a present from the queen, a necklace with a winged lion pendant and when he put it on, things changed. He gained wings, red wings that matched his marking. Finally flying in the air all by himself, he didn’t realise how much he had wanted to fly after all. Not to say he still didn’t walk places like he used to, but he was in love with flying. And now he was flying to go help Lance. Apparently Shiro was kidnapped by Zarkon’s henchmen.

He finally spotted the cove. He looked around and spotted someone on one of the rocks. He got closer to see Lance. Before, the blue eyed merman took the chance to push at his buttons and unwind him before he headed to try and fight the most evil fairy known. His eyes were bright and happy. Now they were filled with worry and something else.

“Lance?”

Lance looked up and his eyes widened, “Keith? You have? Damn fairy boy, why didn’t you tell us the good news?”

“Huh?” then he noticed where Lance’s eye were, “oh my wings. Yeah, a bit of a new thing. But enough about that, what happened to Shiro?”

Lance looked away and he looked even more worried, “I was waiting here to meet Shiro when this sea fairy came rushing by, saying something about Shiro being kidnapped by Zarkon’s henchmen. I thought after you defeated him, they would have disappeared, but wishful thinking I guess. The sea fairy said that Shiro told her to go and get you, so I sent her ahead. We’re mermaids, we dry out if we’re not near water, so there’s a good chance that they’re still in Mermaidia.”

“Mermaidia?”

“It’s our country, that’s where Shiro is prince of. I know the area better than anyone, so we should work together. Besides, Shiro did ask for you specifically.” That look was back in his eyes. Lance wasn’t jealous, was he? But it wasn’t just that, there was something else as well. “Come on, eat up.” Keith caught a bundle of familiar looking green stuff.

“Do we have to eat that?” Red asked, turning back into her pixie form.

“It wasn’t that bad last time. Come on, the quicker we eat, the quicker we can find Shiro.” Once he swallowed the seaweed, he followed Lance into the ocean. It wasn’t long before they arrived at Mermaidia. Keith couldn’t help but look around. It was beautiful, the water made everything shine.

“We need to find Delphine. She’s an oracle who knows everything, but the only people who know where she is are these 3 merfaires. Thing is, they’re young and it’s kinda hard to get them to be serious. Usually if they invite you inside they’re home above water, you can get them to focus, but that doesn’t happen very often.” Lance explained as he led him away from the more busy parts of Mermaidia.

“So we’re going in blind, kinda?”

“Basically, but we don’t have a choice. She’s the only one who’ll know where Shiro is and why those henchmen wanted him.”

They found 3 small girls with tails and wings playing with a sea turtle and dolphin. When they spotted Lance however, they quickly swam over, screaming his name.

“Lance, Lance, did he finally ask you?” the one in the middle asked

“Did who ask what?”

“Shiro. Did he finally ask you to marry him?”

Marry? That…made a bit of sense. Now that he thought about it, he was sure that Lance and Shiro were really close the last time he saw them. Was that why Lance looked a bit jealous? But then what was the other emotion?

“It’s not like that.” Lance said, looking away, “besides, I’m sure it’s nothing like that anyway. Not anymore.”

“What are you talking about? He’s like, so into you.”

“Not anymore. Since we’re in a chatty mood, think you can tell us where Delphine is?”

“Aww, she’s so cute!” the merfaires swam away from them and over to where Red was. The pixie stared at the girls as they played with her hair and nuzzled close to her.

“So, you and Shiro?” Keith asked

“Not anymore. He likes someone else.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“I can tell.” That unknown emotion was back again. Keith really wanted to ask who this person was. He didn’t know why, but the thought of someone hurting Lance, it didn’t feel right to him. But at the same time, he was jealous that Lance had Shiro all to himself.

“Hey,” one of the merfaires swam up to Keith, “can we take your friend to our house for a snack?”

Keith remembered what Lance had said before and agreed, “But do you think I can come as well? I don’t Red to feel uncomfortable.”

“Sure. Red, come on!” the pixie looked so out of her comfort zone as the merfaires started to pull her away and back towards the surface.

“Remember, you can usually get one serious question in before they go off topic.” Lance reminded him as he went to follow Red. Keith thought as he broke through the surface where the fairies house had risen from the water. The fairies seemed to know a lot about Lance and Shiro, so maybe he could get an answer about the mystery person. Besides, they seemed to like talking about it. He was sure they wouldn’t think it was serious.

When they were sat inside, Red turned to him. “I heard about your little mermen. Shame you lost Shiro though. I guess you can still go for Lance.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your crushes on them? If Shiro isn’t interested in Lance anymore, you can’t really be in a relationship with both of them, but I guess being with Lance is ok.” She looked at where the merfaires were preparing snacks. “I wonder is that’s how merfaires are made.”

“What do mean crushes?” Keith asked. He felt confused but his stomach was doing lops at the thought of him with Shiro and Lance.

“Uh, hello? Those two tell you you can defeat Zarkon and you do? Don’t think I didn’t see the way you took their words to heart. You liked them and you’ve been mentioning them since so it grew, didn’t it?”

Did it? Keith had to think. He had taken their words to heart. They believed in him and he wanted to prove them right. He did tell Pidge and Allura all about them, almost constantly. Now he understood, he liked them. Both of them. Multi person relationships were widely accepted amongst fairies, so he didn’t feel conflicted. But now it just made him more curious about this mystery person.

“Are you talking about Lance? I heard that he’s sure he lost Shiro to a wingless fairy.” One of the merfaires said. Wait, what? Wingless fairy? “Apparently this wingless fairy was coming through and Shiro and Lance saved him. They both kinda fell for him but Lance thinks that Shiro fell for him more and thinks that he doesn’t want him anymore, so Lance wants to step back and let them be together.”

Wingless fairy? He was that wingless fairy. Shiro and Lance saved him and they fell for him, just like he did for them. And Lance thought Shiro like him more. No wonder he looked at him with those eyes. He was jealous that he had Shiro’s attention and he was hurting, because he was losing Shiro and maybe him in the process. No, Keith wasn’t going to let this happen. He wasn’t going to lose them, not when he knew he could have them both. But not now, they needed to save Shiro first.

“Lavender tea?”

“Thanks. Hey, can I ask you a question? Shiro’s been kidnapped and the only person who knows where he could be is Delphine. Do you think you can tell me where to find her?”

“Sure.” Save Shiro first, and then straighten things out with them both.

* * *

 

This was a wild ride. First they find out Delphin is actually a large talking snail. Then they find out they have to go down a tunnel called the Depth of Despair to find the Mirror of the Mist. Keith wouldn’t be able to use his wings but he was sure he’d be fine. Delphine gave him a bracelet of pearls to wish on in case he changed his mind. He was sure he wouldn’t, until Lance tried going down himself and got caught in the vines. He gained a tail and was able to get Lance out, but then he was working against the clock.

“I still can’t believe you gave up your wings. Why didn’t you get Red to help?” Lance asked as they swam to the coral dome. Keith could spot something sitting in the middle. Being a merman was strange. For one, his red shirt and black waist coat disappeared showing off his chest. His ears and markings were still the same but now a few scales were surrounding the markings. He was sure he saw Lance looking at his exposed chest more than once.

“Because not even my lion wings would take those winds. Who has winds in a tunnel anyway?” Red said, holding onto Keith’s shoulder

“That one. I hope we find Shiro soon. If we’re not careful, you could be a mermaid forever.”

They finally reached the dome and in the middle was a large clam shell. A green fish floated in front of it and turned when they swam closer.

“Well, two mermaids at the bottom of the Depths of Despair. And alive too. You two are either very brave or very desperate.”

“A little of both. We’re looking for Prince Takashi of Mermaidia. He’s been kidnapped and we need to find him.” the fish looked back at the clam and it started to open. The Mirror sat there, fogged over.

“Are you two sure you want to know that? You can find out anything you’d like from this Mirror. Like, does the man I love still have the slightest feelings for me while having feelings for another? Or, can I save something I didn’t have before I lose it?” she asked looking pointedly at the two of them.

Keith watched Lance become conflicted. He rested a hand on Lance’s shoulder and gave him a small smile when he looked at him. “We want to know where Shiro is. We can answer the other questions by ourselves.” Lance looked confused but the fish looked proud. With the Mirror, she showed them where Shiro was, suspended above ground tied up. Lance immediately recognised where he could be and with a quick thank you to fish, dragged Keith with him.

“Where are we?” Keith asked as he looked around the underwater plants that were around.

“The Royal berry gardens. There’s one above water that fairies use. Shiro brought me here once.” Keith could see Lance wanted to ask him what he meant back at the dome. “Keith…”

“The other person you think Shiro like is me, isn’t it?” Keith said. He watched Lance flinch and look away, that look in his eyes again. “Lance, listen to me. Back when I first met the two of you, there was a part of me wondering what the heck I was thinking. Me, a wingless fairy, going up against the most powerful fairy of all time? I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it, but you guys thought I could. Shiro’s words and your actions, it gave me strength. If it hadn’t been for you two, I don’t think I could have gone on.”

“Keith…” the two had stopped swimming, Lance keeping his eyes on Keith.

“I didn’t realise it at the time, but I felt something for you two. It could have been admiration except I wouldn’t stop talking about you two. I fell for you guys and then when I heard the two of you were together, I wanted to belong. To be with you both at the same time. But when you said that Shiro had feelings for someone else and the merfaires said it was me…I didn’t…it didn’t feel right to have one of you. I want you both. I hope that this hasn’t made you dislike me or give up on Shiro. I know I’m a fairy and I have no idea how this relationship would work, but I want to try. I know Shiro has to still have feelings for you and I want all three of us to give this a chance and-”

Keith was cut off as Lance grabbed him by the shoulders and kissed him. Keith had never been kissed before, but he was sure that this was the best kiss. Lance pulled away and turned slightly red.

“I like you too and I want to be with you and Shiro, it’s just…Shiro started talking about you so much and I thought he didn’t have feeling for me anymore, but more than anything I wanted him to be happy, so I was going to step back. When we save him, we’re talking this out ok? We can make this work.”

They saved Shiro and were able to steal back the Immunity Berry, the reason Zarkon had Shiro kidnapped all the way from his banished bog. Keith barely made it out of the water in time, had it not been for Red dragging him out. While Keith had an adventure as a merman, he was glad to have his wings back. Then it was a matter of setting things straight.

“What? Lance, how could you not think I didn’t still like you?” Shiro asked, as all three of them sat on a rock at the cove. Lance was between both of them and Keith kept quiet until everything could be resolved.

“Well you wouldn’t stop talking about him and I know it sounds weird since I wanted to be with him too, but I thought you didn’t have feelings for me anymore. I wanted you to be happy, so I was going to step back.”

“Lance.” Shiro looked so guilty. “That’s not true. I do still have feelings for you, I always did. And yes, while I do want Keith to join us, that doesn’t mean I don’t love you any less. I’m sorry I made you feel that way. And Keith, I’m sorry I caused so much confusion.”

Keith shrugged. “It’s ok. We all agree that we want to give this a try right?” both mermen nodded. “Then that’s all I care about. These kinds of relationships are hard, I know. But I’m willing to give this a try if you guys are.”

“Hey, I got to kiss him first, so you need to catch up.” Lance said, holding that fact over Shiro’s head as he leaned over to lean on Keith

Shiro just gave them loving smiles. “I guess I do. Starting now.”


	5. Don't believe it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro has a nightmare. One he's sure will come true if he stays with Keith and Lance. But Keith won't let him believe it, not for a second

This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.

_‘Please let it not be._ ’ Was all Shiro could think as he stared at the scene in front of him. He saw Lance, on his side, the white of the armour stained red. He wasn’t moving. God, was he even breathing? He couldn’t tell.

A raspy breath pulled his attention back to what was right in front of him. His Galran hand, still glowing purple, was speared through Keith. He could see his bloody hand from the other side of Keith’s body. His pale skin almost looked translucent and blood had slipped past his lips.

He wanted to say something, anything. How did this even happen? How could he do this? _Why_?

“H-How could you?” the question rasped from Keith’s lips. The betrayal and heartbreak was so evident in his eyes. “You killed Lance and you killed me. You’re nothing but a **monster**.”

Shiro’s eyes shot open, his breath stuck in his throat and his chest tight. He could feel his hands clench as his breath hiss from his clenched teeth. His whole body felt tense. His eyes focused on the two bodies next to him.

Keith and Lance were somehow still asleep, facing each other. Keith had one arm thrown over Lance’s waist, but Shiro could feel Keith’s feet near him. Keith was originally the one getting the cuddles, but Shiro must have pulled away at some point. Good. He couldn’t hurt them now.

Monster. That’s what Keith called him. He wasn’t wrong. He killed so many people in the arena. His arm was dangerous. He left Matt and his father with the Galra. He couldn’t even fight against Hagger and her mind games. But the dark version he tried to fight against, that was him. That version of him was inside of him. He pulled himself closer to himself, pulling away from the other two. He was going to hurt them, he knew that. He didn’t want to, but hadn’t he already let them get hurt enough? He left Keith and disappeared for a year, leaving him alone. Him coming back forced Keith to come and fight in this war. He wasn’t quick enough to save Lance went the Castle was taken over. He couldn’t even save him when Sendak took control. He couldn’t help Keith against Zarkon and then he left Lance.

Quietly, Shiro climbed out of bed. He had opened the door when he heard his name. He turned to see Lance looking at him, his blue eyes filled with sleep. Just earlier, he had passed out on the couch using Shiro’s lap as a pillow while they waited for Keith to finish with training. When he had looked down at the sleeping face earlier, he kept thinking how much he wanted to protect him. Now, the same wish was on his mind but it was lined with despair knowing he’d have to give Lance up to do just that.

“Where are you going?”

“Just for a walk. I’ll be back.”

“I can come with you.”

Shiro shook his head. “Stay here with Keith. I won’t be long, promise.” He waited for Lance to accept his answer and snuggle up back to Keith, before leaving the room. Once outside, he took another breath. He didn’t want to leave the two. Their whole relationship made him feel grounded. It was strange how all three of them worked together, but they did. But that dream. No not dream, that nightmare. It scared the living daylight out of him. Seeing Lance there not breathing, not talking a mile a minute, not giving him a bright smile, it was like seeing him hurt from the bomb blast, but so much worse. He had been so worried, board line panicked then, but he put on a brave face, hoping that could still save him. He almost didn’t make it. And Keith. His hand was speared through Keith, probably right through the heart or close by. He knew Keith the longest. He was his mentor before anything but he couldn’t say that he felt guilty about the transition. But hearing that word come from his mouth, it just made it seem so much truer.

Shiro clenched his eyes closed and let out another breath, this one shaky. He needed to think, but he didn’t want to. He let his feet move, not thinking about where he could be going. He kept his eyes down and tried to keep his mind blank. The nightmare didn’t come up but memories of him with Keith and Lance did. His first kisses with both of them, with just them and when all three of them started their relationship. Lance’s small moments of PDA, one he got and ones he had given Keith. The moments Keith felt safe enough to do the same. The times he’d smother Keith in kisses whenever he pinned him down during training. Letting Lance pull him into corners of the Castle just kiss him. The times they all spent together late at night tangled together, in more ways than one.

The memories stopped when he heard a voice in his head. He looked up and looked at the large black lion standing in front of him, sitting on her hunches. The Black Lion, leader of the Lions of Voltron. They had gotten along so quickly. Their bond wasn’t as deep as Lance and Blue’s, but he still felt close to her. But…he was ejected from her during their fight against Zarkon. He knew that the ruler of the Galra Empire was her previous Paladin, but he thought their bond was stronger than that. With the nightmare on his mind, he started to wonder if because what was hidden in him. He heard Black scolding him for thinking such things. She knew what Zarkon wanted and she didn’t want him as her Paladin, but his connection to her was strong. Shiro was one of her best Paladins.

Shiro approached Black and put his hand on her leg before resting his head on her next. “I have a hard time believing that.” She asked what was causing him so much distress. The nightmare came back full frontal. “It’s only a matter of time. I’m just like them, I’m a monster.” He flinched at the volume of Black’s voice. That wasn’t true, that was never true. His family trusted him with their lives and he kept them all safe. She knew how hard he was on himself when he couldn’t do that. He was nothing like Zarkon, she wouldn’t let him. Neither would the rest of his family.

His family. The team was his family. They all trusted each other. He knew the team trusted their lives to him. But he could even keep that promise?

“Hey.” A new voice broke through his thoughts and he turned to see Keith standing behind him. His hair was ruffled and his black shirt was riding up. “Lance said you seemed off. Are you ok?”

Shiro looked away. Last time he heard him speak, he heard that word come through his lips. Black’s voice came inside his head, begging him to talk to Keith and Lance. He could let himself go with them. He could be vulnerable with them.

“Shiro?” Keith sounded concerned now. He listened to the Red Paladin walk towards him slowly.

“Do you think I’m a monster?” the footsteps stopped as the question rang in the air. “Do you ever think that’ll turn on you guys? That I’ll use my arm against you?”

The silence felt deafening. It felt like it stretched on for forever when it was broken by Keith’s footsteps. Shiro could feel the heat of one of his boyfriends’ body come near his right side. Feeling things with his right hand was strange. He couldn’t feel the temperature of things but he could feel the slight pressure of whenever some took that hand, just like Keith did. He gripped it between both glove bare hands and held it close. He finally looked at Keith, who looked at him with such love.

“What happened to you when you were with them, it should have never happened to anyone. What happened still scares you, which means you regret what happened. You don’t remember how you got this arm, but you should remember this isn’t just a weapon. You use this arm to pull whoever’s in the middle of the bed closer. It ruffles Pidge’s hair and is a presence to Hunk whenever he needs it. It holds Allura’s hand whenever she feels homesick and pulls Lance’s head to your chest whenever he feels just as homesick. This is part of you.

“Even knowing what you’ve done, I’ve never thought you to be a monster. None of us have. We never could and if you ever feel like that, we will do everything in our power to change your mind. So, don’t you ever think that you’re a monster, because that’s the last thing you are.”

Hearing those words from Keith, made him feel calmer somehow. Maybe it was hearing it from the same mouth that had started it, it destroyed the pain. That nightmare version wasn’t Keith. This, this amazing person was real. Using his Galra hand, he cupped Keith’s cheek before leaning down and planting a kiss on his lips. Keith accepted immediately and returned it. Keith pulled away and asked what the kiss was for.

“Just because. Thank you.”

He was greeted with one of Keith’s rare smiles. “You don’t have to thank me. Now will you come back to bed? Lance is being extra snuggly and I think he could use some of your cuddles.”

“Sure.” The word would still be there and he was sure the nightmare would come back but as long as he knew how much his boyfriends and family didn’t believe it and trusted him, he knew he’d be ok.


	6. Gazing at you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is feeling homesick for the stars. But not even his boyfriends can help with that. Or maybe?

“How is it that we keep losing a 5 foot 8’ Cuban boyfriend?” Keith asked out loud as he and Shiro walked down a hallway. Lance had disappeared again, for the 5th time this week. They didn’t say anything at first, maybe he was with Hunk or Pidge or maybe he needed time to himself. But when it kept happening and they couldn’t find him with Hunk, Pidge or even Coran, they got concerned.

“I don’t know, but we seem to be doing it with frightening accuracy.” The two reached one room and looked inside, not really expecting much. But there he was, Lance was sitting in the room, facing the wall length window. The whole room was dark but they could still make out Lance’s hunched body in the starlight. The two dark haired Paladins looked at each other. Lance was being uncharacteristically quite, even for being by himself. Shiro approached him first and kneeled next to him, “hey Lance.”

Lance looked away, his distant eyes focusing on Shiro. “Hi. Uh hey.”

“We were looking for you. Are you ok?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’re being quite, even for you.” Keith said from above him, causing Lance to lean back to look up at him.

“It’s nothing.” Keith narrowed his eyes and Lance flinched before looking at the window again. He pulled his legs tighter to him, trying to hide his mouth in his knees. “Well, there is something. It’s really stupid anyway, but… my eldest brother and I would go stargazing at the beginning and end of summer every year. According at Pidge, we’re coming up on that time. This is actually the first time I won’t be there. Somehow we never missed a single session, but now…”

The two knew how badly Lance would get homesick. Sometimes it took little trigger for him to slink off by himself and try not to be found. He’d allow the two of them to hold him close, but they felt a bit lost for words. Keith was an orphan and tended to be a bit closed off. Shiro’s father died when he was young and his mother made it to him entering Garrison before following her husband. Neither had any siblings; Pidge and Matt where the closest Shiro got.

“I kind of wish I could see earth’s constellations again. Not on the star map, but out here. But no way that’s gonna happen. I mean, we’re literally in a different galaxy, our stars are too far away.”

Keith and Shiro looked at each other. They wanted to make that happen for Lance, just to make him feel better, but he was right. They were too far from all the stars the recognised.

Suddenly the sirens went off, Allura’s voice not far behind, “Paladins, to your lions quickly! Galra forces have spotted us and we need time to make a wormhole.”

His sadness forgotten, Lance jumped up and led them all to their hangers. They’d have time to worry about Lance’s problem later. Now, they had to fight.

* * *

 

They had exited the wormhole, when Shiro spotted them. Through Black’s eyes, he could see familiar constellations. Aquarius, Cygnus, Lyra, they were Earth constellations.

“Allura, where exactly are we?”

“Near a planet called Nyx. Why?”

“Just something about it reminded me of earth.”

“Well, it looks like there are similar space characteristics. Is there something you were looking for?”

“No,” a plan starting to form in his head, “no I’m good.”

Everyone felt hungry and tired when they finally re-entered the Castle, so Hunk led them to the kitchens. Lance was talking to Hunk, so he didn’t notice his two boyfriends fall behind them.

“Did you see them too?”

“The stars?” Keith asked. “It was a bit strange to see them here out so far. Didn’t realise that stars could get duplicated.”

“Maybe just the placement of them, but you thinking what I’m thinking.”

Keith gave him a knowing smirk, “think Lance will be distracted enough after dinner?”

“We’ll have to see.”

It wasn’t until later, they finally went and got Lance. They opened the door to his room to find him passed out on his bed, headphones in place. Keith gently pulled them off with one hand, using his other to rub Lance’s back trying to cox him awake.

“Lance, kitty, wake up.”

Lance furrowed his eyebrows and let his eyes flutter open. His mind seemed to take a moment to process the two in front of him. “Where did you two disappear to? What’s going on?”

“Kitty, come on. We want to show you something.”

Lance groaned and flopped on his side. It didn’t look like he was planning on moving when he asked, “what is it?”

“It’s a surprise.” Shiro said. “Come on, you can lay back down when we get there.”

Lance finally got up, slipping on his robe and took Shiro’s hand, allowing him to lead him down the hall, to the same room they found him in before. “Ok, close your eyes.” Lance did so and planted his head against Keith’s shoulder.

“He said close your eyes, not fall asleep on me.”

Lance gestured somewhere to Keith’s mouth, “pillows aren’t supposed to talk.”

Shiro chuckled at Keith’s annoyed look and opened the door. The two had created a nest of pillows and blankets in the middle of the room and they made sure all the lights were off. The light from the stars was the only thing that lit the room. Shiro let Keith led Lance in and stopped him right at the nest. He looked out the window and spotted Cygnus first. Hopefully Lance would see him too.

Rubbing his arm, the monochrome haired man said, “Lance, open your eyes.”

Keeping his head on Keith, Lance opened his eyes. He stared blankly at the glass in front of him but then he focused on something. “Wait, is that…Cygnus? The Swan?”

“Yep. That’s what I was asking Allura earlier. It seems like the stars here are in similar position. Best part is, you don’t have to strain your neck having to look up at them.”

“You said you wanted to see the stars again. I know it’s not with your brother, but think we’ll be good enough company?”

Lance looked at both of them and nodded, “perfect company.”

They all laid down in the nest, facing the window. Resting on Shiro’s lap, with Keith playing his hair on Shiro’s other side, Lance stared out the window picking out all the recognisable constellations. His two boyfriends watched the small contentment on his face as he got more and more relaxed, and eventually fell back asleep.


	7. Take care of you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After taking care of a sick Shiro, Lance is the next to get sick. Keith is freaking out slightly, Lance is good at the taking care thing, how is he suppose to do this? Luckily, Shiro is always there to help.  
> A continuation of Day Two Movie Night

Keith swiped his ID on the card reader, allowing Shiro to pull the door open when it beeped. Both had grocery bags in hand that swung as they headed to the elevator.

“Strong immune system my ass. I should have known he’d get sick.” Keith grumbled, causing Shiro to give him a patient smile. Just a while ago, it had been Shiro who was up in bed, sick as a dog. Lance and Keith came over and took care of him and did a good job of it. On the last leg of his cold, Lance decided that it was safe to kiss him. And it would have been perfect, had he not sneezed right on Lance’s lips. While he felt so horrible, it had been kinda funny seeing Lance jolt back and react so violently. Then of course, it was a slow downhill spiral of him getting sick, before he crashed and was the pile of whiney, miserable mess that was currently holed up in his dorm room. Hunk had kindly informed them later, that while yes, Lance did have a lot of siblings, he had the worse immune system out of all of them.

“He probably didn’t want me to worry.” Shiro mentioned, trying to cool Keith down. Having two sick boyfriends one after the other didn’t seem to help Keith worry. And Shiro knew that Lance held a special place being Keith first boyfriend. “If I didn’t sneeze on him, I’m sure he’d be fine.”

“It wasn’t your fault anyway. It’s just, Lance doesn’t get sick often. He’s better at this taking care thing, how do I know if I’m doing this right?” Keith’s eyes held worry, nervousness and slight fear.

Shiro took Keith’s free hand. “The good thing about poly relationships? You don’t have to do this by yourself. And I’m sure Lance is more than happy with what you’re doing for him already.”

Keith squeezed his hand. Shiro was right. He wasn’t alone in this. He had Shiro as well and taking care of him was fine. He’d be ok. They reached their floor and Keith pulled Shiro to the door. It was covered in stickers of seashells and surfboards as well as motorcycles and lions. The perfect mix of Lance and Keith. The door was unlocked, so Keith maneuverer the bag in his hand enough to open the door. “Lance, we’re back.”

Lance and Keith’s two beds were pushed together and shoved against one wall, the other wall holding both large closets. One desk was at the foot of the bed and the other opposite it on the same wall as the door. The bed was a mess of blankets and Lance was in the middle of it. A box of tissue sat next to his head as he smothered his face into his pillow. Shiro dropped his bag on the desk by the bed and walked over to Lance. He put his hand on his forehead, noticing how it was still as warm as before. He also noticed Lance trying to reach for his hand but it kept dropping lifelessly before he could get close.

“How are feeling?”

“Like crap. My head still hurts and I feel really lightheaded and I’m bored of sleeping, but every time I look at a bright screen, my eyes hurt.” Lance complained as Shiro gently rubbed his arm. “And I’m cold but every time I get under the covers I get really warm.”

“Just stay under,” Keith came up next to the bed, a small medicine cup in his hand, “sweating out the cold will be good. Come on, drink up.”

Lance turned on his back and let out a whine at the sight of the cup. “I hate liquid medicine.”

“I know, but this is working better than pills, so come on.” Lance whined again and let Shiro pull him up enough to take the medicine. Lance winced as it slipped down his throat and took the cup of room temperature juice from Keith. Keith planted a kiss on Lance’s forehead before he took the cup from Lance, who just fell forward, hiding his face in Shiro’s shoulder.

“I hate getting sick.”

“Look on the bright side,” Keith mentioned, heading to their shared bathroom, “you get two guys taking care of you.”

“But I can’t kiss any of them so what’s the point?”

Shiro couldn’t help but laugh as he rubbed Lance’s back. He heard his sickly boyfriend let out a hum of contentment. “Isn’t it kissing that got you into this mess?”

“Only cause you sneezed on me. I take care of you and that’s the thanks I get?”

“I said I was sorry.”

“Then you laughed at me. No love.” Lance grumbled. Shiro laughed more.

“If you get some more rest, you’d be better soon so you could kiss us.”

“But I’m so tired of sleeping. I wanna do something.”

“Everything makes you tired. Just rest.” Keith said, coming back into the room and grabbing his laptop. While he didn’t mind taking care of his boyfriend, he did still have class work to do. “We’re not going anywhere, so it should be fine.”

Lance pulled his face away enough to look at his boyfriend. His glassy eyes made him look so pathetic; Keith just wanted to smother him in hugs and kisses. Shiro rubbed Lance’s back again before going to his arms.

“Come on, lie back down.”

“I want cuddles.” Lance said as he flopped back down on his back. Keith climbed over him and sat where his back was against the wall. He allowed Lance to plant his head on one of his legs, so his laptop could still sit on his lap. Shiro climbed in, spooning Lance from behind.

“Better?” Shiro asked

“Still can’t kiss you, but I’ll survive.”

Keith could tell Lance wouldn’t go back to sleep anytime soon so he pulled up his iTunes. “Which book?”

“Hm?”

“Which book should I play? You want to do something right?”

Lance thought for a second and said, “House of Night?”

“And listen to Zoey’s inability to choose a guy?”

“Well you don’t have Morganville Vampires and I don’t want to listen to Vladimir Todd so…”

Keith sighed, pulling up the first book and adjusting the volume so it didn’t burst Lance’s eardrums. The story started and Lance wrapped his arm around Keith’s waist and closed his eyes. Keith looked down at his sick boyfriend before looking over to Shiro. It would be hard, because of how Lance complained, but Shiro was right. He’d be fine, he could take care of both of them just fine.


	8. Capture your heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance takes a break from capturing Sakura Cards to go to Japan. Problem, his two crushes, his rival and the judge of the Cards, are going to be there as well. But they invited him alone to hang out with them. Do they feel the same way?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know this is really late, like by like 2 weeks, but I had this thing called finals to worry about, so...yeah. Sorry and I hope you enjoy

Wind rushed passed his ears as he flew by.

“Lance, look out!” an accented voice yelled. He looked over his shoulder to see a rain of arrows heading right towards him. The blue tinted wings on his back pulled in as he dodged the arrows. He looked back up again to see the purple skinned girl summon another arrow. He flew faster as she notched it and released it, more arrows appearing as they headed towards him. He dodged them all before ducking under a vine covered pergola. The wings disappeared as his feet touched the ground and a card appeared in front of him. The card was pink and there was a lavender tinted picture of some sort of bird on it, the word ‘The Fly’ at the bottom. He tucked into his pocket and took a moment to breath.

“Lance, come on. We have to catch Arrow.” He looked down at his jacket where two small bodies where poking out. One was a girl, with long white hair, skin darker than his and pink markings under her eyes. She was in a pink and blue dress and had wings that had purple, blue, yellow, green and red. The other was a man, who looked much older than his companion. He had bright orange hair and a very impressive moustache. He was dress in a blue suit and his own wings were tinted orange.

“Give me a minute. Anytime I think I can do something, that thing attacks me with arrows. God, what was this Clow dude thinking when he made this?”

“Protection? I don’t know. What I do know is that if you don’t catch that thing right now, Keith could get it, or worse it’ll leave the school grounds and who knows what’ll happen then.” The girl, Allura, said

He didn’t know what wanted to make him move more. The thought of Keith getting Arrow or what Arrow could do to everyone else. It didn’t matter, Allura was right. He needed to stop Arrow. He reached down and pulled out a blue and white pistol from his brown combat boot. The gun didn’t look normal. For one, it was shaped like a lion’s head, the barrel, the lion’s open mouth. On the grip was a v shaped symbol etched on to it. He went to his pocket to pull out a card when he heard Coran, the other flying creature yell, “Lance, look out!” he looked up to see a volley of arrows heading straight towards him, and there was no way to get out in time. He braced himself for the attack when he was suddenly picked up and moved. He heard the wind rushing past again and opened his eyes to look at the grey golden tinted eyes of Takashi Shirogane.

“You ok?”

Lance blinked before his mind caught up. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.” Lance tried to ignore how Shiro was holding him in a bridle hold or how good he felt so close. He looked past Shiro’s purple tinted wings to see Arrow dodge a blast of lightening. Keith, it had to be.

“Hey Lance, can you face over here?” a voice called. Lance looked over to see Pidge pointing a camera at him, Hunk trying to hide himself behind them, a sound mic in hand.

“Is it really necessary for them to do that?” Shiro asked as he flew them to one of the trees in the school’s courtyard.

“You don’t think I’ve tried telling them differently? Trust me, once Pidge has an idea in mind, it’s practically impossible to make them drop it.” Shiro dropped him off on a branch, where Keith, in all his mighty glory, stood tall with his sword in hand.

“Can’t keep out of trouble for five seconds can you?”

“Screw you.”

“Guys, not now.” Shiro ordered, looking back to where Arrow was. “Lance, get ready.”

Lance pulled out two cards from his pocket, Jump and Windy. He threw Windy and pointed his gun at it. “Windy, stop Arrow.” He pulled the trigger and a bullet of light shot out. When it pierced the card, it glowed and a woman with a feather headdress appeared. She wrapped around Arrow and Lance did the same with Jump. Translucent wings appeared on his boots and Lance jumped out of the tree. He let himself flip right over Arrow before pointing the gun at it. “Return back to your form once more, Sakura Card.” The bullet hit Arrow and their body turned to smoke, gathering together in the shape of a card. Lance landed on the pergola, crouching to absorb the impact, when the newly formed card flew into his hand. He looked at the pink card, Arrow looking peaceful now. “Sorry.” He muttered to it. Shooting the cards always made him feel bad and it felt like all he could do is apologize.

In the span of two seconds though, Lance seemed to forget he was on top of something up high and went to take a step, only to fall through one of the openings. He would of painfully crashed to the floor had Keith not jumped out of the tree and reached Lance just in time. The force of his fall, caused them to crash to the floor, Lance on top of Keith. Lance could hear Allura and Coran complaining about how they couldn’t breathe, but Lance was more concerned about the fact that he was extremely close to Keith. He bolted up, trying his best to smush the blush on his face. Allura and Coran flew out of Lance’s jacket and proceeded to tell him off, reminding him how he still had Jump and how dangerous that was, what would of happened if you got hurt?

During all this Shiro, Pidge and Hunk came over, Pidge keeping the camera on Lance’s still flushed face.

“Why so red Lance? Anything special happened?”

“Fuck off Pidge.”

“Lance, mind your language. That’s no way to speak to a lady.” Allura scolded.

“What lady?” Lance mumbled before finally looking at Keith. He had pushed himself up, rubbing his back a little from how hard he hit the floor. Lance goes over and holds out a hand. “Um, thanks.”

Keith looks at Lance for a moment before taking the hand, letting lance pull him up. “It’s honestly a miracle you’ve been able to get cards so far with how clumsy you are. How the hell are you a cheerleader?”

“Well excuse me,” Lance snapped, annoyed at how quickly the moment was over, “unlike some people I don’t train myself over insane things like jumping off of buildings.”

“Guys.”

“At least I practise. I swear, sometimes I feel like you just go with the first thing in you head.”

“Guys?”

“Not all of us were taught how to defeat the cards Keith. We’re literally in a Sakura and Syraon situation here. I just got this job because I somehow activated Windy. I am sorry that I caused this.”

“Guys?”

“I’m not blaming you. You just don’t try and be careful.”

“Hello, people.” Everyone turned to Hunk, who sighed now that he got their attention, “it is almost 12:30. Lance, forgetting something?”

“Fucking shit, my mom! We need to go now!” Lance ran, leading the others back to the car where Shiro parked. They rushed over and Shiro was different now. Before he had been dressed in dark robes, but now he was in jeans and a sweatshirt, the gold gone from his eyes. It was a rush to Lance’s house and sneaking passed the lit windows of the living room. Lance was just glad he had a room on the ground floor. He climbed through the window and closed it when he heard footsteps. He yanked off his boots and jacket and threw them under the bed before jumping in and pulling the covers on him.

“Lance, you’re hat.” Coran whispered from the shelf he and Allura planted themselves on.

He yanked the black beanie off and shoved it under the pillow, next to the gun and tried to pace his breathing. He heard the door open and felt the light from outside fall on his face. It stayed that way for a while before the door closed. He stayed still until he heard his mother walk further down the hall then let out a huge sigh.

“Oh god, that was too close.” He pulled the gun out from underneath his pillow and watched it as it glowed blue and started to shrink. It continued glowing until it became a lion face pendant, already tied onto a necklace. He leaned over and grabbed his jacket and started pulling out cards. He pulled out the Arrow card and grabbed a pen that sat next to Allura and Coran on the shelf and wrote his name on the bottom. When that was done, he sighed again and flopped back down on the bed. “Way too close.”

It was honestly hard to believe that just a few months ago, something like what happened tonight, would have scared the crap out of him. a few months ago, he wasn’t traipsing around at night going after mystery beings that turned into card, or arguing with annoyingly cute guys that were way to skilled with a sword. It was all because he found that book.

It was one of those times that Lance was completely alone in the house. His elder sibling had reached the age where they didn’t live at home anymore and the younger ones were at playdates or friend’s houses. His dad was on a business trip and his mother, out grocery shopping. Lance had gotten back from cheerleading practise and was ready to collapse onto bed until someone came home when he remembered a project he had to do. His dad already said if there were any reference books he needed from his office, to go ahead and get them. Honestly, all it was supposed to be was him going in and grabbing the book he needed. But he got distracted by a slim pink book on one the shelves. At first he thought his little sister had put it there the last time she was in the office, but no. it said Sakura on a banner on the front with a golden lion under it, the back having a strange looking circle with a star in the middle. It had a lock on it but when he rubbed his finger over it, it popped open. Inside were cards. The back of them had the same strange circle from the back of the book while the picture of the card was tinted pink. On the card was a woman with a feathered headdress, Windy. There were katakana letters under the name and for some strange reason, Lance decided to practise his Japanese and read the name out. The same circle from before appeared underneath his feet and the whole room was filled with a powerful wind. He had closed his eyes to block the wind but when he opened them slightly and saw that some of the cards were flying out and disappearing through the walls, he slammed the book closed, saving a few remaining cards. The wind stopped and the book fell from his hands.

What the hell just happened? Lance was sure he was dreaming when the lock had released two orbs of light and poof, there were Allura and Coran. Allura explained that they were the new Guardians of the Sakura Cards. Sakura was a girl who had changed the cards, once known as Clow Cards, into hers. And she did it all when she was in elementary school, making her one of the most powerful magicians to date. While Allura freaked out about the now missing cards, Coran had told him that Sakura went through a similar ordeal, actually losing all of them. Both she and another boy named Syaron – who was a descendant of Clow, the dude who made the cards, and knew much more about the cards than anything – retrieved all the cards and when Sakura became the new master, she changed them to Sakura cards. And now, Lance had lost them all over again. He was basically guilted into retrieving them all and with the help of the Lion Pistol, he had the power to summon and seal the cards. Having Pidge and Hunk find out wasn’t on the agenda, but at least he wasn’t alone in it.

“Lance,” he opened his eyes to see Allura looking down at him from the shelf, “did you hear what Keith said when you two were arguing? I think he really cares about you.”

That was another thing, Keith and Shiro. Lance wasn’t just saying it when he said they were in a Sakura and Syaron situation. Syaron Li came to Japan to look for the missing Clow Cards and wanted to take the ones Sakura had because he thought she wasn’t worthy. It was the same thing with him and Keith. Keith came from Japan intent on getting the Cards back and making sure he got Lance’s as well. Far as he knew, Keith was related to one of Syaron’s sisters and he had the same attitude as his great uncle or whatever. Lance did not want to lose to him. Losing that one card the first time he showed up was more than enough. He would always remind Lance that he would get the cards, which pissed him off so much. Never mind that he was better at everything at school too, he didn’t want him beating him there either.

He met Shiro and they got along great. He always lent an ear to whenever Lance just wanted to rant about Keith (maybe he ranted a bit too much, but that was for later). Being his flirtatious bi self, he noticed how good looking Shiro was and it was evident how much he actually liked him. But when he found out that Shiro had come with Keith, he felt betrayed. One of the original Guardians of the Clow Cards had a human form, so his power was passed down and guess who was on that bloodline? Yep, Shiro. He could change from a regular human to a winged being in seconds and he worked with Keith. After he found that out, he refused to talk to him, not even letting him explain.

He was so sure they were against him being able to control the cards that he made it his mission to beat them in getting all the cards. Then the incident changed everything. The incident that made him realise something about Keith and change everything.

During spring break, his whole family –aunt, uncles, cousins, all came down to Arus and with Pidge and Hunk’s families as well, they all drove down to the local beach. It was to his annoyance and disappointment that Keith and Shiro were there as well, because of Pidge’s brother Matt.

“Trust me, if I knew, I would have warned you.” Pidge told him. “But hey, maybe you can talk to Shiro again. I mean you do still have a very embarrassing crush on him.”

“Who gives a fuck? That guy played me, probably hoping to get my cards for Keith. Besides, aren’t _they_ going out already?”

He was sure he was adding on another reason to hate Keith, because he was sure that he and Shiro were dating already. He avoided them the whole time until the adults decided to do a bit of a hunted walk. The kids would pair up and have to get to a monument in one of the caves and back again, with the adults trying to scare them the whole way. Both being terrified of anything horror, Hunk and Lance stuck close to Pidge. That’s when it started, the disappearing. One of his uncles had scared them already and they had walked a goodways down the path without encountering anyone when Lance noticed it. They hadn’t encountered anyone. He couldn’t hear any voices up ahead or behind. He knew something was up when Pidge started to look see through and then disappeared right in front of their eyes. Lance knew something was up and told Hunk they needed to leave before something happened to them. They didn’t get very far before Hunk disappeared as well.

If there was something Lance hated more than anything, it was being alone. Being abandoned and forgotten was his biggest fear and it was coming true right in front of him. Keith had found him shaking and close to tears. He was expecting an asshole comment, but all he did was take hold of his shoulder and try to calm him down.

“Th-they, they…”

“Disappeared I know. Lance, I know this is scary but you need to listen to me. This is the work of a Sakura Card. Can you sense anything?” Lance tried to focus but his thoughts were completely scrambled. Keith squeezed his shoulder and made Lance look at him. “Lance, calm down. Ok, can you breathe with me? Take a deep breath, ok?” he followed Keith breathing until his body felt less tense. “Ok, easy. Now focus. Do you sense a card nearby?”

He closed his eyes and thought of the cards. Each energy was different but all had the same underlining innocent feel. And there it was, a Sakura Card. He opened his eyes and nodded. Keith let out a sigh.

“Alright. Look, we have to seal the card and then everyone will be back ok.” He had realised then that Shiro wasn’t with Keith. When he asked, Keith looked worried and a bit upset.  “We didn’t realise it was a Sakura Card until later. The magic he has as a regular human wasn’t enough to stop whatever caused this.”

Lance saw that Shiro gone made Keith worry. Seeing the worry, Lance had decided to ignore the fact that he couldn’t stand Keith and make sure he sealed this card. They were able to sense the card at the very back of the cave where the monument stood. As they got closer, Keith’s magic was starting to run out and he was starting to become see through. The thought of even losing Keith pushed him to get the card to reveal itself. It did and with a single shot, was sealed once again.

The Erase. It had erased the memories of those who had no magic of the events, but Lance would never be able to erase what happened. The kindness Keith showed him helped him realise he had fallen for Keith. It would have been easy to ignore it, if Keith hadn’t apologized the day after and after, instead of fighting against him, helped him seal the cards. Seeing the two get along, sort of, Shiro finally approached him again, apologizing to Lance for making him think he was trying to use him. The two just being nice and helping and…

Lance groaned. “Why does this have to happen?” he needed to forget about this crush. The two of them were together, right? And they probably didn’t do poly relationships, so no joining there. And them saving him was just helping, it didn’t mean anything. Right?

* * *

 

Lance was extremely glad that the next day was a half day with it being the last day of school before summer vacation started, because with his mini crush panic attack the night before, he got little sleep.

“Did you sleep at all?” Pidge asked, zooming up on his droopy eyes with their camera as Lance laid his head down on his desk.

“Barely.”

“Thinking about certain people’s arms around you huh?” Lance glared at the young photographer, who looked slyly at him over their camera. “Hey don’t look at me like that. I’m right aren’t I?”

He really hated how easily Pidge could read him. When he realised he had crushes on both Keith and Shiro, they had picked up on it immediately. It didn’t help his worry that his stupid crush was so obvious.

“Pidge, come on. Be nice.” Hunk said poking the camera.

“I’m never nice. But fine, just because we’re getting out of here early, I’ll be nice.”

“Oh thank you. Allura would be so proud.” Lance said sarcastically

“Of course. I am a lady after all.”

“Yeah, biologically. Other than that you’re a master of blackmail and horribleness.” Lance said

“Oh, master.” Pidge said, looking impressed, “perfect name for my non-binary days. I’m making you call me that from now on.”

“Pidge.” Hunk said, with slight warning

“Fine. Anyway, are they even coming today?”

“No. Shiro told me they were heading back to Japan early. They said they’ll be there until August, so I’m on my own for sealing cards.” He pretended that didn’t disappoint him. He wouldn’t see the two for a while, but at least he could try and forget the crushes.

“it’ll be weird with just us doing this again,” Hunk said, “what if they aren’t even really any cards acting up? I mean, we’ve had pretty big gaps before.”

“Then I have nothing to do for the summer.” Lance said, almost dejected.

“Oh. Still no luck on the job hunt huh?”

“Didn’t you apply, like everywhere?” Pidge asked, a bit surprised Lance didn’t have a job. It was practically one of the requirements from his parents. You’re in high school, unless you’re on a trip or something, you needed to get a job during the summer.

“They hired college students first and apparently, way too many. God, I have no clue what my mom’s going to do to me.”

“Why not tell her you’re working on an art project?” Lance pulled his head from his desk and looked at Pidge. They shrugged and said, “Well, you haven’t really had the time to do your art since this whole card captor thing started and your mom loves your art, so if you tell her you’re working on a project this summer, you won’t get in to much trouble.”

How could he of not of thought of that? Lance liked to think he was an amazing artist, he was pretty good, but Pidge was right. After meeting Allura and Coran, he didn’t draw as often and then when Keith and Shiro showed up, he pretty much stopped. Seeing him back at it again, his mom wouldn’t give him grief about the ‘no job situation’. He pulled Pidge into a hug, ignoring their screeches to let go.

“Pidge, you’re a genius.”

“And you’re annoying. Let me go!” he did, but ruffled their hair before Pidge swiped at him. They huffed as their homeroom teacher finally came in as the bell rang. “We can go to the Balmera Store after school.”

The Balmera store was an art supply store that also sold premade plushes. Shay and her brother Rax ran it for their grandmother. Lance liked going for two reasons, one the quality of the produces were amazing, and two, seeing Hunk flounder around Shay was a true highlight in his day.

“Sorry I can’t buy anything.” Hunk said, looking embarrassed as he talked to Shay, as Lance picked out supplies.

“It’s fine, really. I’m glad you came to visit me though. You didn’t have to.”

“That is painfully to watch. Almost like watching you with Keith and Shiro.” Pidge said as she watched the two taller people.

“This is me ignoring you.” Lance said pulling out a large canvas from the rack. He walked over to the register, where Rax started to ring him up.

“So are you going to draw Shiro? Or maybe Keith? Or maybe, a really explicit piece? How about-”

“Pidge, I am warning you, I will mess with your cameras. I do not tempt me.” Lance said to Pidge, who just smirk at the reaction. He really hated how easily they could press his buttons when it came to his crush. Any other time, they’d just tease to annoy him. This was much worse.

As he paid, Shay came over with a large closed box with a hole cut through the top. “Every customer gets a chance to win something in the Small Business raffle. Each ball inside correlates to a prize.”

“A constellation prize? I might be a bit of an otaku, but isn’t that how raffles work in Japan?” Hunk asked, just as Lance was putting his hand in.

“Yes actually. It’s probably because the grand prize is an all expensed paid trip to Japan for two weeks.”

Hitting Lance, Pidge said, “Keith and Shiro.”

“I can destroy your camera. I have the resources.” He replied. Honestly, while the Erase card changed everything, it had been useful in getting rid of some embarrassing pictures Pidge had. Being their servant had been so worth it. He tried to reach the collection of balls without tipping the whole box out of Shay’s hand when one jumped into his hand. He hesitated pulling it out, did he accidently use magic or something? He pulled his hand out and in his hand was a gold ball.

“No way.” They turned to Rax who looked at the ball in disbelief. “The gold ball…”

* * *

 

“The gold ball was the grand prize.” He explained to Allura and Coran as he held the package in his hand. “We leave in two days and because it’s a trip, I don’t get in trouble with my mom for not having a job.” He let Allura pull the packet from his hand and went over to his closet; he had two days to pack for a two week trip. Not to mention, Japan summer was a lot hotter than anything and those who lived there suggested that people buy clothes there for summer.

“Lance, this is incredible. Sakura, creator of the Sakura Cards, lived in Japan. Not in Tokyo, but a nearby prefecture. You can learn so much while you’re there.” Coran said, looking at the tourist guide book that was there.

“And Shiro and Keith.” Allura called

“ _Dios,_ you and Pidge are exactly alike. I’m leaving you with them this whole trip.” He snipped from over his shoulder.

“Who else is coming?”

“It’s me, Pidge, Hunk and my older brother Markus. He’s the eldest one.” He had to remind the two Guardians about his different siblings constantly. “Pidge’s parents needed an adult with us if they were going to let them go. If Markus didn’t surprise us by coming home early, we wouldn’t have been able to go.” Just then, his phone started to ring. Lance was tugging his suitcase from off the shelf, so Coran answered and flew over to hold the phone next to his ear. “Hello?”

“Lance?” the voice caused Lance to yank the suitcase hard and it came tumbling down, hitting Lance on the head.

“Ow, fuck!” he grabbed the phone from Coran and heard a concerned voice still talking. “Shiro, hi.”

“Lance, are you ok? What happened?”

“Uh nothing. Just tripped. So what’s up? No Sakura Cards have appeared or anything.”

“No, I know. I’m actually calling because Pidge called and told me you won a trip to Japan.”

“Did they now?” _‘Reminder to use Erase next time I see the camera wielding demon.’_

“Yeah. We’re actually living in Tokyo and if you wanted, Keith and I could take you around, tell you the stories of Sakura.”

“J-just me?”

“If that’s ok. Hunk and Pidge are more than welcome to join, but I’m sure your forth person will be rather confused with what we’re telling you.”

“Oh, uh.” What the hell was happening? First Shiro and Keith are extra worried about him the night before, next he wins a trip to Japan and now one of said crushes is asking him if he’d spend time with them, alone.

“Lance would love that.” Coran, the little devil, yelled this loud enough for Shiro to hear. He grabbed Coran by his wings and glared at him. “This is a learning opportunity, in more ways than one. Just accept it.” Fucking hell, had Pidge gotten to everyone?

“Lance? If you don’t want to…”

“No! I mean, I don’t mind. Sounds like fun.”

“Perfect. We’ll let you have a day to yourself and we can meet up after. You still use your LINE account right?”

“Yeah.”

“Perfect. Message me when you guys are about to take off and tell me when you land ok?”

“sure.” They said their goodbyes and hung up. Lance groaned into his hands. “Fuck, I’m screwed.” A day with both his crushes. There was no way this could possibly end well. And how the hell did Pidge tell them they won already? It had only been a few hours.

* * *

 

“Lance, I swear. I didn’t tell him.” Pidge said as she sat on Lance’s bed. They had arrived in Japan the day before and surprisingly jetlag hadn’t hit them. Lance guessed it had to do with the naps they had on the flight. Keith and Shiro were on their way to meet him at the hotel and Lance decided to take the time to chew out Pidge – female pronouns today – about her spilling to Shiro.

“You know I have very good reason not to believe you right?”

“Ok fair point, but I swear. This time it wasn’t me, honest.”

“Nice try.” Lance flipped the flap of his messenger bag closed and clasped it closed. “Pretend all you like, I know it was you.”

Pidge sighed, looking just about done. “Fine, whatever. They’ll be here soon so I can just tease about that instead.”

Coran floated and stood on Lance’s bag. “So, my boy. What should we ask them to tell us first? How about the story of how Sakura created her very own card? Or how about when she went to China, quite an interesting story there I’ve heard.”

“Yeah,” Lance said slowly, “um, Coran. You and Allura aren’t coming with me.”

“What, why not?” Lance felt bad at the completely crestfallen look on Coran’s face.

“Coran, I’m sure Lance would like to spend some time with the two by himself.” Allura said from her spot on the bed.

“But, but what if something happens?”

“Coran, I have the Lion Pistol and the Cards. Besides, what better protection to be in than with another Card user and a guy who has Guardian blood in him. Trust me, I’ll be fine.”

Coran continued to pout when the front desk called. Keith and Shiro were waiting down in the lobby for him. The others came with him, mostly so they could tease him and his brother could finally meet his little brother’s crushes. The elevator doors opened and Lance saw the two on one of the couches the lobby had to offer.

“Oh, if I was into boys. They’re pretty good looking.” Markus said

“And this is where I’m stopping you. You are not getting the chance to embarrass me.” Lance said as he headed towards the Guardian and Card user. He heard his brother whining the background, but Hunk seemed to be calming him down. Shiro was the first to spot him and stood up.

“Lance, hi. How was your flight?”

“Pretty good. They pulled out all the stops cause we got first class tickets.”

“That’s pretty impressive. Shall we go? We have the whole day ahead of us.” He followed the two out as Keith led them towards the train station.

“We won’t be able to go to Sakura’s old prefecture today.” Keith explained, “There’s a lot of construction happening and there really wouldn’t be places to sit and relax.”

“Oh that’s too bad.” _‘So if we’re not going there, then, where are we going?’_

“We thought we could take you to a few places that were important to her. The aquarium, ferries wheel, the sky tree and maybe if we have time one of the local temples.” Shiro suggested.

_‘This is beginning to sound more like a date than anything. Not that means anything, Lance. Calm the hell down.’_

They took the train down to Sunshine City, where the local aquarium was. Before Lance could pull out his wallet, Keith took care of all their tickets for inside the aquarium.

“You didn’t have to do that.” Lance said as he took his ticket.

“I don’t mind. Besides, have you even been able to tell the difference with the yen coins yet?”

“No, but that’s not my fault. Japanese class is more about the language and very little about the culture. I know how to say an amount of money and how it translates into US bills, but how the money system actually works? Yeah no.”

“Remind me to show you when we get a chance.” Keith said, handing his ticket to the ticket master. Lance tried not to look too deeply into that.

“So,” Lance asked, as they walked down the hallway, “why an aquarium?”

“Did Coran or Allura ever tell you about the Watery Card?” Shiro asked

“Not really. I mean, Watery was one of the few I stopped from disappearing.”

“Well, to get Watery, it was one of the few times Sakura had sneaked into places when it was closed.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah, Watery was being pretty violent and actually caused one of the large circular tanks in the café area to break, causing a huge flood. My ancestor, Yukito, was able to break a door so the water had somewhere to go. It was because of something he said that helped her with an idea of getting Watery. By freezing her in the food freezer.”

“Ouch, no wonder she can be in a bad mood.” Lance muttered, remembering the furious glare Watery would have. He loved her, totally, but now that he knew what happened, he was sure she was still waiting for him to do something like that. He then got distracted by the large wall of fish. “Wow, these fish are really bright. After the marine centre closed down, I haven’t been able to see so many fish at once in a while.”

“Lucky, this is the beginning. Come on, they have more sea animals outside as well.” Lance got excited but still walked slow enough to take everything in. he took panorama shots with his phone and tried to commit some images to memory. Honestly, he wanted to paint everything. It didn’t help that the dark lighting of the room made Keith and Shiro look ethereal. He knew if the day continued, it’d be even harder to forget his crush.

When they got to the seals, Lance tried not to squeal, but didn’t really succeed. “Oh my gosh,” Lance started hitting Keith’s arm, since he was closer, “look at them! They’re so cute.” He said, the excitement in his voice imminent.

Keith grabbed Lance’s hand as it came down on his arm and held it there. Lance was a bit preoccupied with the seals so he didn’t really notice. He did eventually feel the warmth of Keith’s hand and tried to control himself. Then he saw penguins and the slapping ensued again.

“Lance, knock it off!”

“But they’re so cute! Look at them.”

“I can do that without you hitting me.” Keith grabbed his hand again and yanked it down, keeping it there as if to stop him. It just caused a slight short circuit in his brain.

They were leaving when Shiro mentioned the nearby Pokémon Centre. Lance refused to move anywhere else till they went.

“Besides, if Pidge knew that we were nearby and I didn’t get her anything, what do you think she’ll do to me?”

Keith didn’t complain. He needed to Pre-order Pokémon Moon anyway. Lance was immediately drawn to all the water Pokémon. He kept getting drawn to the Lapras plush. It was on the pricy side, so Lance didn’t pick it up, but he did get a big Leafion plush for Pidge and a Slyvion for Hunk. Keith had to give him a quick lesson on money while they were in line and Lance was able to pay for everything, but after they left the store, Lance pulled him over to side to extend the lesson. He didn’t notice Shiro hadn’t followed them till he walked up, a Pokémon Bag in hand.

“Soo, once you hit 1000 yen, it changes into paper money. Ok.”

“It’s fine to understand, the hardest part would be remembering the different coins.” Keith said as Shiro finally came over

“Ready to go? We need to get a train to Asakusa.” Shiro asked

“That’s where the Tokyo Skytree is right?” Lance asked, putting his wallet away. He made sure to hold on tight to the Pokémon bag.

“Yep. We’ll go to the Ferris Wheel first, then the temple and the Skytree last. It’ll be dark then and the view will be really amazing.”

“We are getting food between then right?”

“Yes Lance, we’re not going to let you starve.” Keith said, as they went down the escalator to get to the ground level again.

“Wouldn’t put it past you.” Lance remarked, smirking when Keith glared at him. It was just too easy to get a rise out him sometimes.

Lance did ask about the bag when they were on the train but all he got out of Shiro was, “you’ll see when we get there.”

They were just down the street from the Ferris wheel when Keith asked Lance if he knew about the Sealed Card.

“The what?”

“It was a card that Clow Reed created that got out of hand. It was awakened when an amusement park was built where the reincarnation of Clow Reed once lived. It was called the Nothing and would steal Sakura’s cards because she had no owner.”

“But, the cards have feelings to. Was she lonely?” Keith looked pleasantly surprised at Lance, but nodded anyway.

“She was lonely after being sealed for so long. She had been created in case all the positive energy of the cards had to be cancelled out but by herself, she was pretty destructive. In order to seal it, Sakura would have to give up her strongest emotion in exchange.”

“And that was?”

“Her love for Syaron.” Shiro answered for them. He picked up, “This was after Sakura created her own card, the Love. She was going to sacrifice her love because it was the right thing to do, but the love that created the card was sacrificed instead and the two fused, turning into the Hope. She kept her feelings towards Syaron and the Nothing, now the Hope, would never be lonely again.”

The Hope. He had that card. It always mesmerised him. just seeing the girl hold the heart close to her, it felt different then holding a regular Sakura Card. All Coran and Allura told him about the card was that it couldn’t really be used, but it was very important to Sakura. Now it made sense why she didn’t have it with her when she died. She risked everything to make the card happy. She was able to keep everything, so it seemed wrong to part her with everyone.

“Why’s the farriers wheel so important?”

“It was one of the places she tried to confess her feelings at.”

Lance was feeling even more confused. All these stories and the places they were going, that felt more like a date then a history lesson. He tried to get the thoughts out of his head, but remembering about the Hope, it felt like he should have hope about his situation.

They were up on the Ferris wheel before he knew it. Lance wished he had Pidge’s camera skills. He tried to commit everything to memory. Honestly, there felt like there were so many things he wanted to commit to memory. The sights, the little moments with Keith and Shiro, even now. He was next to Keith while Shiro watched him from the other side. They had risen pretty high when they stopped. Lance had taken a picture when he got a notification. Pidge, she was asking how things were going.

_‘How do you say, history lessons that seems like a date?’_ he just replied back with a ‘fine’ when Shiro called for his attention. When he saw he got it, he threw over the bag he was holding. Inside, was the Lapas plush he was looking at, as well as one of the new Popplio plushes. “Aww, Shiro, you didn’t have to get this for me.”

“I don’t mind. I remember how much you would go on about Lapas being your mother Pokémon.”

“Cause you need someone to keep an eye on you.”

Lance poked Keith with Popplio’s nose, “you’re just jealous that Shiro bought me something.”

“I bought your ticket for the aquarium.”

“Which I so could have gotten myself. You’re kinda losing in the better guide race.”

Keith looked annoyed, “trust me, after we get to the shrine, you’ll change your tune.”

The look on Shiro’s face and tone of Keith’s answer confused him. They were planning something. But what?

They were walking through Orange Street, which lead to the local shrine, as Lance bought the three of them street food.

“Just so you know, you’re still losing the better guide race.” Lance pointed out to Keith as he took a bite of the Hanami dango he got them.

“Like I said, you’ll change your tune. Come on, let’s head to the shrine.” Keith lead them passed the gate before letting Lance lead. He took them over to where different charms were being sold and turned to Shiro to get his help.

“Which one are you looking for?”

“Well, I want to get my mom one for protection, so she knows we’re safe and Markus, my brother one for health. I know Pidge and Hunk wanted to come to a temple so I don’t want to get them one but honestly, if my brother hadn’t come home when he did, I wouldn’t have been able to come.”

“We should be glad than.” He pointed to a white charm, “this is _kaiun,_ it’s for good luck. And this,” he pointed to cream charm with a design of a flower on it, “is _kaiun,_ which wards off evil. It’s suggested to buy for others as well, but I’m sure your mom praying on it would act as a booster. Is there anything else?”

“Uh,” Lance felt slightly embarrassed now, “love?”

Keith pointed at a pink charm, “that one. Why do you need it though? I thought you were Mr. Smooth-with-the-ladies.”

“Well, that hasn’t been happening for a while.” He ended the conversation quickly and bought the three charms. He started to walk towards the fortunes but there was a large crowd.

“Ok, not doing that. Should we go to the main temple?”

“There’s actually a garden near here that we can go to. Come on.” Keith gestured to follow. Wanting to get out of the crowds, Lance stuck close to the other card user as he led all three of them to a much quitter part of the shrine. However, there didn’t seem to be any lights, making it hard to see with the quickly disappearing light. “I guess they never did fix the lights here.”

“Don’t worry.” Lance said, pulling off his lion head necklace, “I got you. Keep watch for me?” Lance dangled the necklace in front of him. “Weapon of Sakura, awaken and answer my call. Take form and help me, release.” In a blast of light, the lion head grew until it changed into the Lion Pistol. The light dimmed down when Lance held it in his grip and he pulled out his Cards from his bag and flipped through them.

“Lance, what are you doing? And could you hurry up before someone comes and sees you with a gun in your hand.” Keith reminded

Lance pulled out a card and quickly put the others back. He said his usual apology before speaking louder, “help us to see, Glow.” He threw the card in the air and with a perfect shot released the card. The area was then gently rained with glowing balls of lights, making it easier to see. “You’re welcome.”

“Show off.” He heard Keith mutter.”

“Hey, I’ll go get us something to drink. I’m surprised you haven’t said anything yet Lance.” Shiro said

“Oh,” Lance shrugged, “didn’t really feel thirsty.”

“I don’t want you brother getting mad at me because you passed out from dehydration. You two stay here, I’ll be back. Besides, Keith didn’t you have something you needed to tell Lance?” With a knowing smile, Shiro disappeared back towards the main temple area.

Lance looked over at Keith, who looked slightly annoyed, “Um.”

“I’m going to kill him. I was gonna wait till after we were at the Skytree, but seeing as you have no patience.” Lance wasn’t going to deny that. Once he heard about something, he had to get the full details almost immediately.

“I mean, if you don’t want to…”

“No,” Keith sighed, looking almost apprehensive. Lance never really saw that expression on him, it was a bit strange. “So remember when I first moved down to Arus? And how I didn’t like you?”

“Yeah. You told me I wasn’t worthy of being able to weld the Cards and that you were going to get them all.” He tried not to remember the rude person Keith was before.

“You know how sorry I am, right?”

“You apologized before, Keith. Both of you did.”

Keith fully faced Lance and took a deep breath. “There’s been something I’ve been wanting to tell you for a while, but since I’m no good at words, I’ll just do this.”

Before he could ask what, Keith took hold of his shoulders and pulled him into a kiss. Lance’s mind went silent as he felt Keith warm lips against his. He pressed back when he remembered something that caused him to reel back.

“Wait, Shiro, you.”

Keith looked honestly confused and a bit dejected, “no, it’s Keith. Don’t tell me I was that good.”

“That’s not it! Aren’t you dating Shiro? Why did you kiss me? What’s going on?”

“Dating? Not really. I mean, Shiro knows I like him, but he knows I like you too and he does as well and…Lance, are you ok? Your mouth won’t stop moving.”

No, Lance was not ok. Liked him? Keith and Shiro liked him? He had been pinning for god knows how long and all this time, they liked him?

“Since when?” Keith looked even more confused so Lance elaborated, “Since when have you liked me?”

“Well, it started after the Erase Card incident. I know Shiro liked you since before but I don’t know exactly when. That’s why he left us to talk. He’s been ready to tell you how he feels but he was giving me time to figure out how I feel. That’s what I meant on the ferries wheel but if you don’t.”

“No! I do, I just, I thought…ugg.” Lance hid his face in his hands. They liked him. They both did and from the sounds of it, wanted to go out with him. “I thought the two of you were already dating and that you weren’t poly and I tried to ignore it, but I couldn’t and then I won this trip and you guys asked to hang out with me today and I just-” Keith kissed him again, halting his words. He responded quicker this time, returning the kiss when Keith pulled away slowly. “And as stupid as this sounds, that is a perfect way to shut me up.”

“I’ll have to remember that.” Keith said, a small smirk on his face. “Just breathe ok? I’ve liked you for a while and you never said anything so I wasn’t sure.”

“Cause I thought you were dating Shiro and I didn’t know if you were poly.”

“Sorry we confused you. Think you can wait till Shiro gets back, so you get the whole story?”

Lance nodded, feeling his cheeks flush. He just kissed one of his crushes and apparently, his other liked him. The silence felt calm as they watched Glow do its job. Lance felt like he couldn’t stop smiling. Keith liked him and he kissed him. He could see the black haired teen giving him looks, like he knew what he was thinking about, which made him smile more. Finally, Shiro came back, with three cups in hand. Lance looked as the Guardian and Card user exchanged looks and before he knew it, Shiro had planted a kiss on his lips. He wasn’t going to deny, that he then hid his face in his hands again.

“Sorry, I know I should have talked first, acted later, but I’ve been waiting to do that for a long time.”

“Stoop. I’m sure my face can’t get any redder, stop trying to see if it can.”

“But it’s so worth it.”  Keith teased

“Shut up or I swear to god, I’m forgetting I ever had a crush on you.” Lance glared from behind his hands.

Shiro handed him his drink and let Lance calm down a bit before speaking. “I’m sure Keith told you I’ve like you for a while. Keith told me how he felt before we came from Japan down to the states, but I told him we should wait until after the cards were collected. Then I met you. I knew who you were the first time I met you, I could sense the cards you had on you, but I’m the judge. I wasn’t going to steal them from you, so I listened to you whenever you talked. I would have thought you weren’t fit for the job, but you never gave up. You could complain and get angry about Keith, but you made it so clear that you weren’t going to just lie down and take it. I guess it was your determination that pulled me in at the start. After you found out, I felt so guilty. I didn’t want you to think I had been tricking you, because I wasn’t, I really liked spending time with you. When you did everything to avoid me, it felt horrible, like I lost you forever. Then I started to think what if it had been Keith who ignored me and it didn’t make me feel any better, so that’s when I got the idea about how I felt. When you did talk to me again, I felt so happy. I told Keith to wait because I didn’t want my feelings to cloud my judgement for choosing the next owner of the cards, but now what’s the point? I’ve fallen for both candidates; my judgement is always going to be clouded.”

Lance knew that being the judge for the Cards had to be hard on Shiro. He could never guess that it would even mean giving up a chance at a love life because of who you liked.

“So, basically, if I didn’t woo you with my amazingness, Mullet here wouldn’t get the chance to bone you?”

“Fucking hell Lance.” Keith groaned while Shiro just laughed.

“Yes Lance. It was thanks to you that I found two amazing guys. Oh, um I guess I should also tell you.” Shiro started to look like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “We actually didn’t leave in the morning when we said we did. We went to Balmera so Keith could get a sketch book for you and when I heard what the grand prize was, I might have spelled the prize box.”

“Spelled how?”

“Um, I used my powers to have the prize winning ball go immediately into your hands when you hand went passed the trigger spell I put on the opening of the box. That how I knew you won.”

Lance blinked. Shiro, who always warned them about not using their powers in public, cheated just so Lance could get here? He got a teasing smirk on his face. “The great Guardian of the Cards, cheated? Wow Shiro, I didn’t know you had it in you. Shoot, this means I’m going to have to apologize to Pidge.”

Poor Shiro looked so embarrassed. Keith then pointed out, “that whole idea was his. He did it without thinking and taking into consideration that you might not even go to Balmera. I was pretty surprised myself.”

“Please stop.”

“Aww, Shiro. That’s so sweet, you cheated for me.”

“Stoop!”

He and Keith took it upon themselves to embarrass Shiro more until he stopped them by reminding them they still had to go to the Skytree before getting Lance back to the hotel. The whole way there, Lance had hooked his arm through Keith’s and even though Shiro was in front of them to avoid more teasing, the two would loudly remind him how sweet he was. It was worth getting odd stares to see the tips of Shiro’s ears turn red.

They finally reached the Skytree and had gone up to the highest point. Shiro was right; the view was amazing at night.

“So, we never really did ask you properly.” Keith said, leaning against the glass next to Lance.

“Ask me what?”

“Didn’t ask you, um, well…” Keith looked a bit uncomfortable but let out a sigh, “ask you if you wanted to be our boyfriend.”

Lance looked at Keith who actually looked embarrassed. Lance promised he’d try and get that look on him more often.

“I’ve been going out of my mind with the crushes I’ve had on you two. Yes, I want to be your boyfriend.”

“Oh, ok, good.” Lance laughed as Keith’s embarrassed face. “Shut up.”

“Sorry, but honestly, the two of you look so cute when you’re embarrassed.” He looked back out to the lit up city beneath him. “Hey, come here. I wanna take a picture.”

Lance pulled out a selfie stick, ignoring Keith’s scoff. He pulled Shiro and Keith to stand beside him and extended the pole long enough to get all of them in shot. “Alright, ready? 1, 2, 3.” Just when he hit the button, both boys planted kisses on his cheek, making him turn red. “Stoop!”

“Aww, look. You’re so cute when you embarrassed.” Keith replied sarcastically.

“This is revenge isn’t it?”

“Yes, but it’s so worth it.” Shiro replied.

* * *

 

“Hey, look. He’s finally returned.” Pidge was on her bed when Lance finally came back to the hotel. “I see no hickies so I assume everything went less than fine?”

“Shut up Pidgeon.” Lance pulled off his bag and pulled his phone and wallet out of his pocket and threw it on his bed. “Where’s Hunk?”

“Getting ice. We were about to start a movie, wanna watch with? You can tell us all about your date.”

“Has anyone told you how annoying you can be sometimes?” Lance asked, as he headed to the bathroom.

“You didn’t say no.” Pidge heard Lance’s phone go off and being the sneaky person she was, got up and grabbed it. Lance’s case was one of those that had the window to quickly see notifications and such easily. She saw that Lance had one message but was quickly distracted by the background he had. Before, it was a picture of him, Pidge and Hunk all laying in a field with flower crowns on that they took at one of their field trips for their science class. Now, it was the picture of Keith and Shiro pressing kisses to his check, the view from the Skytree behind them. “No, fucking way.”

The door to the room opened, and Hunk came in, a bucket of ice in hand. “Hey, is Lance back?”

“Hunk.”

“Pidge, is that his phone? What have we said about peeking through other people’s phones?”

“Hunk, forget that. Look at the picture Lance has for his view window.”

Hunk looked confused until he spotted the picture before he reeled back, a loud gasp leaving his lips. “No way.”

Lance left the bathroom and stopped when he saw the stares he was getting. “What?” he paled when Pidge turned the phone towards him.

“Lance, I think you have some explaining to do. Details, now!”

Later that night, when everyone went to bed, Lance pulled out the Cards. He shuffled through before pulling out Hope. He leaned it against head board and just stared at it. He felt something land on his head and heard Allura.

“Something wrong?”

“No, not really. When Keith and Shiro told me about the Hope, I understood why it stayed here with the other cards.”

“It’s lucky you stopped it from disappearing when all the others did.”

“Yeah. But I kinda wondered why it didn’t stay the Love. I mean, that’s all it wanted right, to be loved? But I think I understand now. Sakura had to have all the hope in the world that Syaron would fall in love with her again. I tried to have hope that Keith and Shiro would feel the same way about me and I guess it did continue to give me hope. It might not do anything if summoned, but I think even just in its card form, Hope is what kept me going.”

He was glad that even though Sakura went through a lot to seal it, that she had hope everything would be fine. He was sure it was her strong faith in hope that made today so amazing.


End file.
